


Painting Red Skies

by cordeliasept



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Felix is a side character, Gen, M/M, Murder Mystery, Mystery, One Shot, Painter AU Kevin, Parents are away on a trip, Platonic Relationships, Servant Eric AU?, Short One Shot, its the weekend they're not at school
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 09:18:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18736135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliasept/pseuds/cordeliasept
Summary: Kevin, a high-school painter living in a rich family, finds himself in a strange questioning of some sorts when he is dragged into the 4419 murders.





	Painting Red Skies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AStarlightMonbebe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AStarlightMonbebe/gifts).



> This story was written for Creative Writing class and I didn't really want to use Korean names often, so Sangyeon's name has been changed to Jayden (his english name). Don't get confused!  
> 

Though skies are normally painted blue with streaks of white, here they were blood-red. The trees were ebony-black with a touch of gray. He hummed as he continued his work, the paintbrush going across the canvas.

“Kevin!” 

The painter turned around, palette still in hand, as his servant Eric came into the room, panting heavily. “Kevin, it’s an emergency!”

“What is it? I already told you not to disturb me while I’m working.” Kevin rolled his eyes, picking up the paintbrush again. Eric let out a sigh, taking Kevin’s water bottle from the nearby table and downing it completely. Kevin turned to see the other drink from his water bottle and nearly screamed in frustration. “Eric! That’s my water bottle you’re drinking! What did I tell you about doing that!?”

“Hey, at least I finally got your attention.” Eric nonchalantly flopped himself on Kevin’s bed. Kevin rolled his eyes.

“You’re lucky I haven’t fired you yet,” He muttered, shooing the other off his bed. This caused Eric to come off with a whine, his hair all ruffled up and clothes rumpled. “Okay, I’ll listen. What is it?”

“Actually...I kind of forgot.” Eric smiled sheepishly as the other’s face became red from frustration.

“Are you actually kidding me right now? I give up on you.” Kevin let out a sigh of exasperation and returned to his work. “Now leave me alone.” 

“B-But…” Eric whined as if he were five. Seeing the tension rolling off Kevin, he backed off reluctantly. “Okay…I’ll come back later, I guess…”

“Don’t come back.” Kevin’s voice was incredibly harsh. Eric jumped slightly at the other’s words, but nodded silently and left. Kevin, finally with peace and quiet, continued painting his red sky.

\-----

“Detective Jacob, I’m not sure if this is the right place.” A short, freckled-faced male stood at the front steps of the large mansion. “Is this person really that rich?”

“It’s estimated he earns three times as much as the above-average American does, so yes, this must be his house.” The detective himself, in full trench coat fashion, pulled out his phone and lifted it up to scan. “2851 Terrace Lane? That’s the address.”

“What are we even doing here anyway?” The transcriptor peered around the estate. 

“They say this boy may be the key to solving the 4419 murders.” Jacob knocked on the door rapidly. “Now all we do is wait and see.”

\-----

Eric was fuming in the kitchen downstairs, stomping his feet in anger and pouting aggressively. “Kevin is such a meanie! We never hang out together anymore...ever since he got the inheritance, he’s been all stuck-up and mean. All he does is paint!” He was still ranting to himself when the doorbell rang. Stopping immediately, he checked his pants for the mini-knife he kept stashed inside one of the pant legs and headed toward the front door. Peering in through the door hole, he saw two peculiar men standing at the doorsteps, both wearing sunglasses and waiting patiently. He opened the door slowly, eyes widening at how tall they were.

“Uh, hello, welcome to the Moon estate—” He started off but was quickly interrupted by the first male, wearing a trench coat.

“No need for formalities. All we want to do is talk to the master of this house.” The male held up a badge, showing “Bloom Detective Force.” “I’m Jacob, and this is my fellow friend Felix. A pleasure to meet you.”

“O-oh! I’m Sohn Youngjae...call me Eric.” He shuddered under the gaze of the other two. “You can come in...the current masters aren’t here, but their son is!” Under sheer pressure, the boy began blabbering as the two detectives came inside the house, the door closing behind them. “The Moon estate is quite large, as you can see, but we’re terribly understaffed. Most rooms are unused, actually—especially since both masters are often out on business trips. They have two sons, Kevin and Jeff Moon; the latter moved away. So it’s just Kevin and me! I’m his servant, sidekick, best friend—anything you could think of!” At that moment Eric burst into giggles, causing Jacob and Felix to shoot looks at each other.

“Oh! We’re here now.” Eric knocked on the door of Kevin’s bedroom, fidgeting with his fingers anxiously. Felix began looking around in curiosity, glancing at the intricate framework and design of the hallway, how the whole entire household was made. It was exquisite. 

“I told you to leave and not come back!” Clearly, Kevin was still annoyed at Eric. 

“A-ah...did Kevin fire you?” Felix jumped from the yelling within the room. _It must be a large room to have such an echo._

“No! He’s always like that. I was just trying to tell him something, and he got fed up with me…” Eric’s eyebrows furrowed. “That’s weird. I can’t remember.”

“Remember? Remember what you were gonna tell him?” Felix, suddenly excited, whirled around to face Eric in surprise. 

“Felix, wait. Let’s speak to Kevin first.” Jacob placed a hand on the younger’s shoulder. Felix sighed and nodded, and Eric knocked.

“Are you _still_ there!?” Kevin’s voice, even more annoyed than the previous time, echoed within his room, vaguely heard through the door.

“There are two men with me! They wanna speak to you.” Eric clasped his hands together as if he were praying. “Please open up; it’s really important.”

All three of them could hear a distant clatter as footsteps made their way to the door, opening to reveal a red-haired, sleepy-eyed boy with a paintbrush in his hand. At the sight of Jacob and Felix, his eyes widened slightly and he pushed Eric aside. “I’m incredibly sorry for the behavior of my servant and for not responding sooner-”

“What did I say about formalities? There’s no need...and your ‘servant’s’ company was quite enjoyable.” At Jacob’s words, Eric reddened from shyness. Jacob held up his badge, Felix doing the same. “Bloom Detective Force. We’re here for questioning.”

“Oh, oh...alright. Come inside.” Kevin ushered Jacob and Felix in. He had almost let Eric out of sheer habit when he realized the boy’s presence and held a hand out. “Eric, you stay outside.”

“Actually, we would like him to be a part of this questioning as well.” Jacob’s calm voice rang throughout Kevin’s large bedroom. Kevin sighed internally before removing his hand, and a happy Eric bounded into Kevin’s bedroom.

The room was incredibly large, the dome ceiling being much wider than Felix and Jacob anticipated. The bed itself was at the very corner, complete with a canopy and a large number of plushies. Nearby the bed was an easel, a canvas showing a beautiful landscape painting of multiple trees and a red sky. There were steps leading down to a large living area, complete with couches and a TV. Kevin nodded, allowing the two detectives to sit. He himself sat on a couch on the side, Eric standing next to him.

“I’m Jacob, and this is Felix.” Jacob quickly introduced himself. Felix smiled and waved before pulling out a recording device and placing it on the coffee table between the two sides. “This is a recording device. This entire questioning will be recorded, but rest assured—none of the audio will be leaked to media, and will stay between us four only.” His deep voice, in contrast to Jacob’s, was dead serious. To Eric, it was almost as if they had switched personalities. “We will not record anything, however, without your consent. Will you allow us to record this investigation?”

“Of course.” Kevin shrugged as if it were nothing. Felix nodded, turning on the device and starting a recording. “This is Bloom Detective Force Recording #127, case 4419, possible witness investigation.” At the word _witness_ , Kevin and Eric glanced at each other. As Felix pulled out a notepad, Jacob crossed his legs and began to speak.

“You are Kevin Moon, yes?” He started off with a simple question.

“Yes.” Kevin didn’t hesitate to answer the question. Jacob turned to Eric, who cleared his throat and responded. “And I’m Sohn Youngjae or Eric.”

“Have you two heard about the 4419 murders?” Jacob went straight down to business. Kevin’s face paled and he nodded, his hands shaking slightly.

“Y-yes...the 4419 murders…” Kevin swallowed. “Nine boys from the same friend group murdered one by one? I was really close to one of them…”

“Would you mind providing us the name of the close friend?”

“His name was Jayden…” Eric’s eyes widened at Kevin’s words, and he whirled toward Kevin in surprise. Jacob didn’t pay attention to this and returned to the list he had in his hands, clicking his tongue. “Jayden...the most recent murder?”

“Yes.” Kevin glanced down at the ground, a wave of guilt rushing over him.

“Were you there at the time of the incident?” Jacob continued pestering the boy, all eyes and ears on the other. 

“Yes, yes I was.” 

“Can you recall the events of the murder for us?”

“Yes…” Kevin closed his eyes and brought himself back to that day, only a couple of weeks ago.

\-----

Jayden’s house was much more suburban and worn-down compared to Kevin’s. Kevin treated Jayden as if he were his older brother—they were incredibly close. That fateful night, they were merely playing cards in Jayden’s bedroom when there was a sudden crash downstairs. Jayden’s parents were both out at the time, so a sudden crash scared them both.

“What the heck!?” Jayden dropped his deck of cards and rose up immediately from his bed, Kevin doing the same. There was no response—even the wind was louder, and there was almost virtually no wind. Jayden tip-toed out of the room. Kevin, on the other hand, glanced out the window, seeing a random stranger’s car parked outside. From above, it seemed familiar, but at that time, he couldn’t put his finger on it. Jayden meanwhile was already at the stairs, and Kevin turned back to him, following.

When they had reached the bottom of the stairs, a paper airplane landed in front of them, having come from behind. Jayden leaned down and opened the airplane slowly, but Kevin turned around instead.

Everything burst into chaos.

He had been roughly tackled to the ground, tumbling down the stairs. Jayden had twisted around only to been grabbed by a dark figure, wearing all black, with black gloves and a mask. Kevin hit the bottom of the stairs at the same time and managed to turn his head. He could blurrily see a needle stab the side of Jayden’s neck, causing the boy to go limp. Kevin struggled to get up, but could barely even get to a sitting position before hitting the floor again, the wind knocked out of him. The dark figure shoved Jayden to the side, picking up the crumpled paper airplane. He stashed the needle into his pocket and then walked towards Kevin slowly. He closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

It never came.

When he reopened his eyes, the dark figure was hovering above him, a hand stretched out. Kevin dumbfoundedly looked up at the figure with confusion. _Didn’t you just...No. Jayden can’t be dead._ He did his best to frown without pain and tilted his head slightly. In the corner of his vision, Jayden was still out cold. Kevin didn’t want to be laying around in agony for the next couple of minutes, so he took the figure’s hand. The figure pulled him up slowly, almost gently, and patted his back. 

“Come on, you have to get home.” The figure spoke for the first time, and Kevin could only nod in his cloudy and disoriented mind. He simply followed the figure back to his car (he had been picked up by Jayden, so he was originally going to go home with Jayden) and entered the passenger seat. The whole ride was silence; Kevin didn’t even bother to question how this random figure knew his address—his family was rather famous, after all. Besides, his body had been aching. Being thrown down the stairs was no fun. When they arrived in the driveway, the figure parked and Kevin was about to go out of the car when the figure’s hand grabbed his wrist. 

“You do not tell anyone what you saw, or you’ll pay for it with your life...and many others’ lives.” The figure took off his black gloves and pulled out the same needle, scratching an X on both of their hands—for the figure, it was his right; for Kevin, it was his left. He hissed at the pain and nearby drew his hand back out of instinct had it not been held still. The mask showed tufts of the figure’s blonde hair and his sparkling grey-blue eyes. “Understand?”

“Y-Yes…?” Kevin hesitantly agreed. Normally, he would say no, but all he wanted was to be let go of. 

“Good. Hopefully, that X will remind you.” The figure seemed to smile under the mask. “I owe you one.” He grabbed a pen from the cupholder and scribbled something on the paper airplane before handing it to Kevin. “You can leave now.”

And that concluded Kevin’s strange and terrifying night. Later he had heard sirens, then saw the news of Jayden’s death “by slow poison”, and broke down in tears, the X a painful reminder of how he had left his friend to die. Had he had done something sooner, he could’ve saved Jayden, but no—he trusted the _killer_ instead. After crying for a good couple of hours, he opened the paper airplane. It had originally been empty, but now there was a phone number scribbled into the white sheet and two words that would end up changing up his life.

He decided to follow those two words, to make up for the loss of his friend. To at least keep the killer in check. One day, when he was no longer fearful, he would tell the truth. Even if it meant his death.

At least, that’s what he told himself. But little did he know how much grief would change him.

\-----

“That’s what happened,” Kevin finished, recalling the words. He was shaking, wondering if his lie had made it through. He hadn’t mentioned the killer taking him home at all, or what had happened afterward. Felix was furiously scribbling down on his notepad, and Jacob nodded, absorbing the other’s words. “That’s incredibly helpful. Can you remember any details about the killer’s appearance?”

“Well…” Kevin hesitated before deciding to change up some of the facts. “He had strawberry blonde hair...and bright blue eyes. He also seemed really tall...but maybe it was the perspective I saw him in.” 

“What about the paper airplane?”

“I threw it away...there was nothing on it anyways…” Kevin really had thrown away the paper airplane as soon as he could.

“Alright...is there anything else?” Felix looked up for the first time in ages.

“Nope…” Kevin’s voice trailed off.

“Okay.” Kevin had been about to breathe out a sigh of relief, but Jacob turned to Eric instead. He tensed up immediately again, and Felix noticed this. The freckled-faced boy narrowed his eyes slightly before scribbling down an extra note down at the corner of the notepad. Kevin couldn’t see it, but whatever it was, it probably had not been good. 

“Eric, anything you would like to add? Anything strange or suspicious that you’ve seen?” Jacob’s voice still had the same kind tone, but Kevin suddenly was incredibly uncomfortable. Eric himself still was alert and surprised.

“Nope, not anything I can add. I was hired after the incident. We were just friends before then.” Eric shrugged. 

“Then, this concludes the investigation.” Felix turned off the device and everyone stood up, Jacob and Felix shaking hands with Kevin and Eric. “Thank you for your time. This is valuable information to narrow down our killer.” 

“Of course.” Kevin smiled weakly and led the two out the bedroom door. “Eric, can you escort them to the front door? Come back after.”

“Sure!” The boy smiled cheekily and closed the door behind him. Once the footsteps of the three were gone, he collapsed on his bed, glancing up at his hand. The X was still quite freshly carved into the flesh of his palm, a scar that he doubted could ever be fully healed. Closing his eyes, he patiently waited for Eric. A couple of minutes passed before the blonde-haired boy re-entered his room. 

“Did they leave?” Kevin opened his eyes to glance up at Eric.

“Yep! Watched them until their car left the street.” Eric picked up Kevin’s water bottle, tossing it in the air. Kevin sat up in a panic and tried to grab the water bottle. “Hey! That’s mine!”

“I know it’s yours.” Eric smiled mischievously. “Hence why I’m playing with it. It’s fun seeing you get worked up.”

“Shut up! You know full well I could easily bring down your entire life.” Kevin shook his head in annoyance and took Eric’s right hand, opening it to reveal the needle-carved X on his palm in the exact same size as the one on Kevin’s left hand. “I hired you because you told me to, and you killed my best friend! And all his friends!”

“And you know full well that you wouldn’t be able to do it because now you’re too _attached_ to me. I’m your only friend now, and you wouldn’t want to risk losing your only friend, right? You told me all your deepest darkest secrets and I told you all of mine, just like besties. You can’t try and run away either. You know I’ll always find you. We’re bound for as long as this X exists, which is forever.” Eric chuckled, and Kevin’s shoulders drooped, knowing he couldn’t turn Eric in, no matter what. The loneliness would kill him. Eric could’ve killed him too at Jayden’s death, but instead, he had chosen to befriend him, even asking Kevin to hire him as his servant. This killer had become his best friend, and now they were here, brought by the strangest circumstances.

Kevin would’ve never seen himself as someone who would associate with someone like Eric. It was strange to think that after grieving so much, he could be so mentally scarred and lonely to the point where he would befriend the very person that killed his best friend. Maybe what was left of his rational self had been right after all—he was _crazy._

“You’re right…” Kevin nodded. Shaking his head, he convinced himself he was merely in a daze. “I’m going to finish this painting.” He dipped his paintbrush in the can of blood and resumed coloring the sky.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and comment! Much appreciated!
> 
> Also I made this for AStarlightMonbebe because she's been wanting to read my creative writing stories for a while now and hopefully this distracts you before our finals...BEST OF LUCK!


End file.
